A Very Ninja Valentine
by Kirishtu
Summary: Naruto has a great idea. Flowers and a scavenger hunt. One-shot idea I had today at work. Fluffy-ness abounds. Oneshot


Originally posted on aff 2008-02-14

Valentine's Day among ninjas was like Christmas among ascetic Jews. It just didn't happen. That wasn't to say it wasn't celebrated at all. It was just that so many young couples soon became single because one half died or they found someone new that made their heart flutter in strange ways. Love and sex to ninjas was just a way of life. You did it because you could, because it felt good, not because you were actually in love with your partner. He only knew of a few couples that actually had love as their base, just as he knew these couples never celebrated Valentine's Day simply because they had the idea of their loved one dying if they proposed anything. Naruto knew this first hand and he had lost the one he loved to the great mistress every living thing had to answer to – by his own hand. In the aftermath, he'd found love again, in the form of two former Akatsuki members who now lived with him in a brand new house.

Naruto wanted this Valentine's Day to be special for Kisame and Itachi. It was the first they'd have with him, after all. But he didn't feel right celebrating with just his two lovers of six whole months. He wanted everyone to celebrate this day, even if it came every year. This year, he wanted to make it special. So Naruto spent his morning making a list of every couple he knew to have lasted more than a year. Then he paired each couple with a color of rose or carnation and spent two whole agonizing hours coming up with a silly poem that'd make most people laugh at the gayness of it. Still, Naruto couldn't bring himself to give up on this endeavor. He wanted this to be special for every couple that he called friend.

He knew he couldn't go to Ino's shop to buy the flowers. She'd want in on it and then the whole village would know what Naruto was up to and the surprise would be ruined. So he left the village to the city, carrying his money against his chest. There was a lot in his little frog, the poor thing so ratty now Naruto really couldn't be sure how it held anything. He'd been saving up to buy some wall stilts for Kisame's Samehada, so the shark-like nin could set the sword up on the wall in the weapons room of their house. But now, he felt like this was much more important than some silly wall stilts. He found the city flower shop easily enough – he just followed the crowd. Too many men were in the shop buying bouquets and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, hurrying to buy the forgotten gifts for their significant other. Valentine's Day had to be the most commercialized holiday after Christmas. And ironically, Valentine's Day was named after two martyrs named Valentine. It only became associated with romance when Geoffrey Chaucer began the Canterbury Tales. How a day celebrating death became a day celebrating love, Naruto would never know.

He found the roses and he realized they didn't have enough colours here to suit everyone. So he picked out two of every colour they had and moved to the carnations, picking out the rest from those bunches. Smiling happily, Naruto stood in line and paid for all his flowers before he hurried home to begin the process of photocopying his message about twenty times. By the time that was done – since he'd had to fight to keep the poem a secret – he'd lost too much time to be able to deliver everything himself before the others began to come home. Speaking of coming home…

Naruto turned to find Itachi placing a brown paper bag on the counter. The elder Uchiha just stared at the blonde through the Sharingan eyes that once belonged to Sasuke and frowned at the sight of the roses and carnations spread out on the kitchen table with the poem.

"Naruto?"

"Valentine's Day?" Naruto said almost helplessly. "Look, can you help me? I wanna get these out before dusk tonight."

Itachi just stared at Naruto for a while, crimson eyes flicking to the flowers, to the papers, and back to the blonde. Finally, his lips quirked in a tiny little smile, finally nodding. Naruto grinned and moved to separate the flowers, giving Itachi half and taking half, giving the elder Uchiha instructions of where to place the flowers and the notes. Naruto took up two of the three white roses then, leaving one on the kitchen table with a note, the pair waiting for their missing lover. Naruto and Itachi left their apartment then and raced against time to deliver all their flowers. It took them two hours to deliver every single flower to their respective owner before they met up in the graveyard. Itachi only held a white rose; Naruto held two white roses and an orange one.

"Where to now?" Itachi asked softly. Naruto gave the elder Uchiha a grin.

"First I want to visit Jiraya. Then we're going to visit Sasuke."

Itachi only nodded and followed the younger man to the first grave, the orange rose set on the headstone. Itachi stood silently as Naruto said a soft prayer for the man he'd come to see as a father. Finally, they moved to visit Sasuke's grave, the second white rose set so reverently on the headstone. Naruto stepped back and looked to the sunset, feeling tears prick his eyes. By now, everyone was finding their flowers and racing all over Konoha to find their match.

- This day comes but once every year -

It was mostly out of paranoia and curiosity, but when they discovered their lover at the end, it would all be worth it.

- The flower you hold is a symbol of love -

Itachi moved forward to take hold of Naruto's hand, their fingers twining together as they stared at the grave at their feet together. Each held a white rose, pristine as freshly fallen snow.

- So reach out your hand and let two become one. -

Naruto and Itachi clutched tighter to each other as they looked down at the lonely white rose on Sasuke's grave. This was how Kisame found them, holding his own white rose. Slowly, reverently, the three of them placed their flowers onto the headstone with Sasuke's rose and headed for home.

Who says the dead can't have a Valentine's Day of their own?


End file.
